Posts Tagged: Chateau Angelus

Saint Emilion first growth wine estate Chateau Angelus is pressing ahead with expansion plans this year and keeping up its hopes for a high-quality 2017 vintage, even as it grapples with the loss of 20 percent of its crop from the worst frost in a quarter century to hit Bordeaux.

Construction of a new winery for its second label, Le Carillon d’Angelus, starts in September and is due for completion by July next year, in time for the 2018 harvest. That’s as Angelus is looking to buy vineyard land to more than double annual production of the second label to between 80,000 and 100,000 bottles from the current 40,000.

The chateau is still riding the wave from its promotion in 2012 along with nearby Chateau Pavie to the top rank of Premier Grand Cru Classe A in the Saint-Emilion of four estates. That has enabled it to increase prices for its flagship wine to more than $300 a bottle for the last 2016 vintage.

“I’m happy,” Stephanie de Bouard-Rivoal, eighth-generation owner of Angelus and co-manager of the estate with her cousin, Theirry Grenie de Bouard, said in an interview June 19 at the estate. 2012 was “the year I joined the management of Chateau Angelus. From that moment I was very much committed and involved in all the projects.

Angelus traces its origins back to 1782, when Jean de Bouard de Laforest settled in Saint Emilion. The current property took shape during the 20th century, when the family’s Chateau Mazerat estate absorbed a neighboring plot of vines known as l’Angelus. It was run for three decades until 2012 by Hubert de Bouard de Laforest, Stephanie’s father.

Angelus celebrated its landmark 2012 vintage with a commemorative black and gold bottle that helped boost the price and made it more attractive to collectors. At that time it also bough five hectares (12.4 acres) of vineyards on the plateau above Saint Emilion, between Cheval Blanc and Chateau Figeac.

“We’re still looking for more vines to buy and increase the production of Le Carillon d’Angelus,” de Bouard-Rivoal said. “It is difficult, and I think it’s one of our major ways to develop.”

Angelus has also moved to exert more direct control over its distribution chain, reducing the number of Bordeaux merchants through which it sells its wine from a total of more than 100 to a more focused group. Continue reading: Bloomberg

A year after Robert Parker’s much anticipated retrospective of the Bordeaux 2005 vintage, which estates have profited the most? It would appear that while some wines have continued to roll on since last summer’s report, not all of the 2005s have experienced even a small boost in price.

Parker’s 10-years-on review of the much-admired vintage created a flurry of interest in the 2005s. Both in the run-up to the report’s release and in its immediate aftermath last June and July, wines from the vintage took prominent trading spots on the Liv-ex platform as buyers manoeuvered to acquire labels they thought might receive an upgrade – and which would then rise in price.

When the report came out at the end of June there were a number of upgrades, with 12 wines given ‘perfect’ 100-point scores but there were also murmurs that some (predominantly UK) favorites from the Left Bank had been overlooked once again.

The scores created a brief but intense period of trading for the ‘05s before quickly subsiding again but that doesn’t mean interest has dropped away entirely.

The effect of all this anticipation and trading is clear. Liv-ex reports that between June 2014 and June 2015 the 2005 vintage sub-index rose 10.3% and the wines are still up on average almost 5% over the past year.

Two thirds of the 2005 clarets on the index are in positive territory over the last year, the most successful being Smith Haut Lafitte which is up 41% following its upgrade from 95 to 98-points.

Angelus, Gruaud Larose, Beychevelle, Cheval Blanc, Haut-Brion, Clinet, Clos Fourtet and Troplong Mondot are all wines that have seen double digit increases in the past year.

Yet there have also been casualties, not least Margaux which was one of the wines in particular that merchants felt should have been upgraded to 100-points.

Ahead of the report that expectation saw its stock rise 7.8% in value but it has since declined 5.1% having only managed to maintain a 98+ score – potentially creating a buying opportunity for less score-sensitive collectors however.

Elsewhere, Parker’s influence apparently has less to do with the wine’s progress.

Bordeaux 2012 was not an immediate success on the secondary market. Between En Primeur release and this time last year – when the wines had become physical – the overall value of those within the Bordeaux 500 index had dropped by 2.6%. Trading activity was also low: the vintage had accounted for just 2.9% of Bordeaux trade.

Since becoming physical, the news has been more positive: the wines have made gains of 9.7% over one year, outperforming the Bordeaux 500 index which is up 0.7% over the same period. This means that the wines are now in positive territory – up 6.9% – since En Primeur release. Activity has also increased, with the vintage accounting for 9.5% of Bordeaux trade since February 2015.

Of the 48 wines from the vintage represented in the Bordeaux 500 Index – Latour and Forts Latour 2012 are yet to be released – 41 are in positive territory over one year. Pavie 2012, which carries a special silver label to celebrate its elevation to Grand Cru Classé A status, has made the greatest gains. Interestingly, Angelus 2012 (-6.5%) is among the seven fallers. It has failed to maintain the boost offered by its own commemorative bottle which was announced in May 2014.

Stéphanie de Boüard, managing director of Château Angelus, is battling to keep the estate’s wines away from investment funds and into consumers’ glasses.

“There was a lot of enthusiasm for our 2012 gold bottle but I don’t want it to become too speculative. I don’t want to see our wines end up in funds. You can’t block that from happening but you can try to control where the wine gets sold. I want to do everything I can to discourage speculation and am trying to prevent our wines from ending up in investment funds. It’s important that our wines are opened and enjoyed rather than traded. Above all wine is about pleasure.”

On the en primeur system:

“Both merchants and consumers are losing faith in en primeur. The whole point of the system is that the wines appreciate in value and if they don’t then there’s no reason for consumers to do it.

“Angelus has always gone up in value after release, which is one reason why it’s worth buying the wines en primeur,” she said.

Angelus 2005 was the biggest riser on Liv-ex in 2015, up 39.9% from £2,250 to £3,148 between December 2014 and November 2015. The estate has now edged into ‘first growth’ territory in terms of average pricing.

de Boüard puts the impressive price rise down to its perfect 100-point score from Robert Parker rather than the château’s promotion to Grand Cru Classé ‘A’ status.

Of the promotion, de Boüard said: “It’s a reward, but I think it’s also something the market has anticipated. It wasn’t given to us out of the blue, but it’s important to be humble because you never know what might happen.”

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